Crikey, mate! Australian drama production spend reached a A$2.7B ($1.8B) in 2024/25 as high-budget features, streaming shows and international titles sent records crashing. However, underlying fears about the shape of market continue to fester.
The annual Screen Australia Drama Report showed a 43% increase in spend on the previous year, which acts as an answer to market watchers concerned with the state of Australian scripted production.
Of the 174 titles that entered production in 2024/25, 71 were Australia with A$1.1B spent on them, a figure that’s up 14%. However, the figure represents a drop from 89 productions the previous year, as local production expenditure fell from 50% to 40%.
The major growth is in international productions, which grew from A$944M in 2023/24 to A$1.6B, growth of A$678M in just a year. International features, of which there were 20, accounted for over A$1.1B, with international TV shows and streaming titles making up A$458M.
Screen Australia is framing the results as representative of an interconnected production ecosystem where domestic and international productions are aiding the health of the sector by creating economic growth, infrastructure, training and employment. However, Screen Australia CEO Deirdre Brennan noted the numbers also reflect commissioning challenges and a drop in TV productions at channels and streaming services.
“This strong result is a testament to the hard work and creativity of our screen practitioners, who are navigating a rapidly evolving landscape,” she said. “The numbers reflect a complex story of production value and content volume.
“While there is moderate growth in local drama expenditure, fewer TV titles entered production across free-to-air, subscription-video-on-demand and children’s content, showing ongoing shifts in commissioning behaviour. This presents an industry challenge, but also an opportunity to seek out new areas of collaboration and innovative production to ensure we continue to elevate Australian storytelling.”
Australian production is currently at an interesting point, with streaming quotas recently confirmed by Anthony Albanese’s Labor government, and funding initiatives such as the reformed Location Offset attracting international productions to the country’s shores.
“At a time of global industry disruption, the ongoing mix of local and international work makes our screen industry resilient, sustainable and globally competitive,” said Kate Marks, CEO of Ausfilm.
Screen Producers Australia said the 20% drop in local productions reinforces industry concern about the amount of work available. “These figures can give a headline appearance of strength, but they mask a more fragile reality for Australian storytelling,” said SPA CEO Matthew Deaner. “In 2024-25 we produced fewer Australian titles, across fewer hours removing many of the opportunities for work in our industry.”
Deaner also warned that an over-reliance on work-for-hire business would not create long-term stability for producers.
“In the projects that have been brought to the screen, there has been a continuing pattern of producers’ intellectual property rights being removed or devalued in commissioning deals – something which isn’t captured in this report costs,” he said. “All of this points to structural challenges for our sector and an absence of strong foundations to build opportunities in the future.
“Expenditure does not equal resilience,” added Deaner. “If Australian producers are not retaining meaningful rights in the stories they create, then this level of production activity does not translate into long-term business sustainability, reinvestment, or cultural sovereignty.”
